Durban - The eThekwini Municipality has a constitutional obligation to reverse the controversial appointment of Simphiwe Duma as its deputy city manager for trading services.
This is according to law experts Paul Hoffman and Lawson Naidoo, who were reacting to The Mercury’s exposé on the appointment.
City manager S’bu Sithole announced the recruitment during a special council meeting last week. The DA abstained from approving the appointment after it emerged that Duma had been fired from his previous employment with the Technology Innovation Agency, where he was chief executive, last year.
A forensic investigation found him guilty of nepotism, intimidation of external auditors, and irregular investment and procurement transactions.
The agency is an entity of the Department of Science and Technology.
According to this year’s budget, Duma will receive a salary of R1.8 million a year – excluding allowances and benefits. His cluster accounts for a huge chunk of the city’s budget.
Hoffman said it was crucial for the city to establish if the recruitment was “consistent with the constitution”.
He cited a provision of the constitution, Section 195 1 (h), which “calls for sound human resources management practices”.
This “would include listening to a man who says ‘I might not be eligible because I have been found guilty of nepotism in the past’. It also includes section 195 1 (a) that there should be sound and effective use of human resources.
“So anybody who is affected or disappointed with the decision… if it is in the public interest, they can approach the high court for an order setting aside his appointment, on the basis that it contravenes the two subsections of section 195 (1),” he said. The city’s explanation that Duma had declared his tainted past in the interview was not sufficient.
“If they knew he had this problem, they ought not to have appointed him. The whole idea of the public service is that there must be a high standard of professional ethics. People who engage in nepotism do not have these standards and ought not to be engaged,” he said.
Naidoo said the “process itself has proven unreliable” and “not robust enough to pick up on issues like this”.
“The fact is it has now come to the fore. He (Duma) is not suitable for the appointment regardless of whether it was picked up during the interview… Once the city is aware of his past, they have an obligation to act on that… The city is well within its right to terminate the contract and let that person challenge that in court,” he said.
The municipality did not respond to detailed questions regarding the appointment.
The Mercury